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Report - Simplex Graveyard, Wales, Feb 10

28DL Full Member

For 77 years The Motor Rail and Tramcar Company Ltd. (MRTC) and its successors produced a highly innovative and successful range of tramcars and small internal combustion locomotives, thousands of which were sold in the U.K. and in many other parts of the world.

The Motor Rail & Tramcar Co. Ltd. was formed in 1911, and after John Abbott had visited Germany in about 1911 and was alarmed at the stockpiles of light railway equipment for army use. Worried that there was no British equivalent for use on temporary military supply railways, he set about designing such a machine.

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I visited here a year ago. It's a private owner's collection out in the middle of nowhere, neglected but hopefully not forgotten.

I was like the proverbial kids in a sweet shop, this place has narrow gauge industrial railway stuff all over the place, and a 1/4 mile track to boot.

All locomotives here are Motorail Simplexes and all are narrow gauge (2ft or thereabouts) apart from one jewel that is standard gauge. I think there's about 6 or 7 dotted around and are a collection of 20hp, 12/20hp and 20/28hp models, the standard gauge on is from 1919.